The “Gatekeeper and Keymaster” Best-Case Scenario Spread

The title of this spread comes from the two demonic characters (“Zuul” and “Vinz Clortho”) played by Sigourney Weaver and Rick Moranis in the first Ghostbusters movie. The premise was rife with thinly-veiled sexual innuendo about the “gate” and the “key,” but it seemed like a good basis for a tarot spread.

The spread uses a card to represent the “beginning of the matter” (the “Key”) that can either be intentionally chosen or randomly drawn from the shuffled deck. Five cards are then pulled and placed face-up in the “Gate” positions; reversals may be applied if desired. Finally, ten more cards are dealt face-down, in any order, into the “Path” positions; once again, reversals are permissible.

The reader must then apply judgment to determine which of the five “Gate” cards forms the most cooperative match with the “Key” card. I believe the word I want is “synergy,” and the idea is to look for combined “ease of expression” rather than “perfect harmony.” Various forms of mutual “dignity” can be used to make this call: element, suit, number, rank, inherent nature, etc. (Elizabeth Hazel’s book, Tarot Decoded, is a good source for identifying these shared correspondences.)

For example, if the “Key” card is the 9 of Cups (titled “Happiness” in the Thoth deck), the first cut is to look for another Cups card of a similarly upbeat nature, followed by a Cups card of any disposition; failing in both, any nominally sympathetic Water trump card will suffice; if there is no other Water card in the spread, congenial or otherwise, the emphasis shifts to an elementally-friendly Earth card, ideally of an agreeable character; finding none, the quest then seeks another “9” card of any suit; as a last resort, any other card that is generally aligned with the sanguine qualities of the 9 of Cups becomes the default “Gate.” A mismatch of upright and reversed orientation may complicate or even disqualify some choices. With this many options, it is unlikely that the search will come up empty. If one card in particular calls out to the reader’s intuition, that can be used as the “Gate” regardless of other considerations. There are times when the decision will be completely obvious and times when it will be much more obscure.

Once this synergistic match is made, the two “Path” cards associated with the highlighted “Gate” card are turned over and the four cards are read as a “best case” developmental scenario.

Originally published at http://parsifalswheeldivination.wordpress.com on August 22, 2022.